The Record of Unusual Creatures

As expected, when Mimir’s voice was sent through the relay system, Yggdrasil froze and the spatial rift that seemed to disappear stabilized again. But the purple light in the spatial rift remained bright, albeit with a hint of hesitation. The powerful ancient creature was confused about where the voice came from.

The MDT hovered in the center of the Hall of the Aspects, shining beams of blue light at the mysterious silver golems in the surroundings. The lower half of these mithril golems were buried in the rock beneath the Hall of the Aspects, forming a sharp cone and connected to the metal ring around the Hebron crystal directly below. A stable signal path was thus established. Mimir’s voice beamed from the Petrachelys was converted into magical energy in the Hebron Crystal, and then broadcast to Yggdrasil.

After saying the greetings, the exchanges between Mimir and Yggdrasil had gone beyond the scope of language. They began to talk in a way that was super-sensory, similar to telepathy and soul-synergy. Hao Ren did not know what they were talking about, he could only see massive data stream constantly oscillating in the monitoring channel. This data stream could transmit more information than any language in the world.

The communication between the two did not last very long. In fact, it was only 10 seconds before Mimir switched channel and Yggdrasil stayed silently in space; he neither ran away nor open his door.

“Mimir, how is the situation?” Hao Ren asked eagerly.

Mimir appeared in hologram above the MDT. The old giant appeared disturbed. “The condition of Yggdrasil is a bit strange. He could recognize my voice and respond, but somehow he seemed to be more confused than before as if he was sleeptalking.”

“Sleeptalking?” Anthony Alfonso was a little curious. “What is going on?”

“I don’t know.” The old giant frowned. “At first I thought he only ran because he had come to his senses. But now it seems that his mind is chaotic. I tried to ask him, but he did not know how far he had run. Looks like his condition was only deteriorating fairly recently.”

Hao Ren became curious about Yggdrasil’s condition. He had no idea what was wrong with this First Born, but it was clear that only mighty forces could screw up the mind of this demigod. And there had been a change to this effect recently. He thought that the world tree might have a trauma when the demon hunters attacked Odin’s domain two thousand years ago. He linked it with his recent battle in Coldpath and other series of events, which might have caused Yggdrasil’s state of mind.

He thought what the most significant thing he had done in Coldpath was.

Not the battle but at the end of the fight when he took the Godslayer from the Netherrealm Clocktower.

It felt like he had flipped a switch; everything seemed to have gone out of control after that.

He shook his head and turned his attention back to the things at hand. “So how can we open the door of Yggdrasil without spooking him?”

“I have tried my best to send Yggdrasil a friendly message. Now he has calmed down and is willing to accept some less serious stimulations. Later I will try to take over the entrance to Asgard and open a stable crack there so that you can pass through. But after entering the crack, no matter what you see, don’t freak out. Believe me, they are all illusions. If you freak out and overreact, you will spook Yggdrasil, and he will run again,” Mimir said.

“What will we see?” Vivian was curious.

With a low tone of voice, Mimir replied, “It’s hard to say, but it must be an illusion that will surprise you. Asgard’s Halls of Valhalla used to gather countless heroic souls. When the demon hunters took down the barrier of the Garden of Asgard using light cannons, these souls tried to patch the breach using their own bodies. So now a large part of the barrier is made up of these souls. The souls will attack you when you cross the spatial rift. You are not going to see anything real until you reach Asgard.”

Nangong Samba, who had been silent all this while suddenly spoke, “So how can we be sure that we have reached Asgard instead of still immersed in the illusion of the souls?”

“You will see the Golden Palace of Odin. If the Golden Palace has collapsed, then you will at least see the ruins of other places in the Garden of Asgard. The souls, which used to be the slaves of the gods of Asgard, fear the majesty of their former master, they will not dare to block the glory of those palaces. When you see the Golden Palace or other ruins of the Garden of Asgard, it means that you have passed through the illusion of the souls,” explained Mimir.

Vivian nodded. “I know what the Golden Palace looks like. I used to be there.”

“Then we shall move at once.” Hao Ren nodded, checking his gear. “Can you talk to Yggdrasil after we go in? Will this spook him?”

“If you are careful enough, you won’t.” Mimir blinked. “After you are in, I will keep my mental connection with Yggdrasil online and try to keep him stable. As long as you don’t anything that hurts the branches of the world tree, he will not overreact.”

The spatial distortion generated by the Petrachelys’ warp jump might spook Yggdrasil, so Hao Ren decided not to take the spacecraft this time. Instead, they would complete the journey with the help of Anthony Alfonso.

Dragon queen Galazur would go along with them this time.

This was the first time Hao Ren had two inspectors joining him in operation. To be honest, he was freaking excited about it. It was about the opportunity to learn from two seniors, who had thousands of years more work experience.

When Anthony Alfonso recited an incantation, they felt a vibration coming from below their feet. After a moment, Hao Ren saw a small, strangely shaped flying craft coming up from the edge of the Hall of the Aspects. The flying craft looked as if a large sphere of a few meters across. The lower part of the sphere was a hemispherical metal platform engraved with complicated magic patterns and secret symbols, while the upper part of the sphere was a bowl-shaped transparent shield with an annual vehicle inspection sticker.

There were traffic laws even in the space age.

Curiously, they followed Anthony Alfonso climbing onboard this strange little flying craft. They watched as the old magician injected magic into the hemisphere platform under their feet. As the magic circle was activated, he engaged the first gear, it shuddered, and stalled. He fired it up again, engaged the first gear, it shook, and stalled. He tried it again, it shuddered and stalled. After three attempts, he switched to automatic gear mode.

“I just bought it two days ago,” The old magician said while stroking his beard. “I haven’t gotten used to it.”

Hao Ren laughed wryly. “Magic-driven flying craft. That is interesting, aha, ah hahaha…”

Though the spherical flying craft was not an empire vessel, it was nonetheless good stuff that Anthony Alfonso obtained from the highly skilled magical civilization. It was as good as Hao Ren’s plasma spear. The flying craft took off smoothly and accelerated towards Yggdrasil in the distance. No one had felt any discomfort due to the quick acceleration.

Soon, the enormous spatial rift appeared before their eyes.

“Right ahead, on your left.” Hao Ren heard Mimir’s voice in his mind. “The entrance to Asgard is open. Remember what I said!”

Hao Ren looked up. There was a solidified crack in the center of the light strip, and the scene inside the crack was completely stable.

“I see it.” He patted the old magician on his arm. “Fly over there.”

The spherical flying craft adjusted its direction and flew straight to Asgard. It began to decelerate as it approached the spatial rift before descending into the otherworldly dimension that had been closed for more than two thousand years.